Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1982

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Educational Administration and Supervision

Major Professor

C. Kenneth Tanner

Committee Members

George W. Harris Jr., Dean J. Champion, Siegfried C. Dietz

Abstract

The specified purpose of this study was to compare mean student academic achievement and socio-economic indicators in an urban popula tion. Hence, the study was designed to determine if there was a significant relationship between school social structure and student academic achievement as measured by students' scores on the Tennessee Basic Skills Test which was administered in March of 1981.

From a population of 56 schools within the Knoxville City School System and the 45 schools within the Knox County School System, a sample of 100 students was drawn from three schools representing three distinct socio-economic levels. To determine the social structure of the schools selected for the study, the researcher used a revised version of Brookover's School Social Climate Questionnaire. The per centage of Black students in the student bodies of the three schools in the sample was obtained from information provided by the Knoxville City and Knox County schools central offices. Students' scores on the four sub-tests of the Tennessee Basic Skills Test were obtained from the three schools included in the sample. Certain socio-economic and geographical data used in the study were obtained from the Knoxville/ Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission. Duncan's Index of Occupational Status was utilized in order to obtain intervals of students' fathers' occupations.

In this study the computerized Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was employed for the analysis of the School Social Climate Questionnaire, the percentage of Black students in the student body, and students' scores on the Tennessee Basic Skills Tests. Six of the eight null hypotheses developed for the study were rejected by applying the analysis of variance statistic, the Pearson product moment correlation, Chi Square, and Eta. From an assessment of the evidence obtained, it was concluded that student academic achievement was signifi cantly related to (1) fathers' occupations, (2) school social structure, (3) self-concept, (4) size of the student body, and (5) the percentage of Blacks in the student body.

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